Do you desire to be a good leader of an organization or team? Then you must develop the skill of making love happen!

Even in the toughest challenges and adversity a leader faces, love is a powerful force. As I was researching military leadership over the Memorial Day holiday, I read the remarkable message of Lieutenant Colonel Joe Ricciardi. As he stood before his battalion of 1,000 troops charged with clearing the roads of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan, his message to them was simple and powerful: “You need to love one another.” Even those tough guys in the face of life-threatening circumstances got it!

Later in his doctoral studies, his dissertation was on the same topic of leadership and love. His research concluded that a team member who feels loved by his boss or leader is significantly more likely to see their leader as a “good leader.” I love what Ricciardi says about love. He defined love as expressing “intimacy, passion and commitment.”

Intimacy as knowing and caring about the personal lives of your team members in an authentic and appropriate way.

Passion as the positive energy you as a leader bring to the team, the enthusiasm with which you tackle the day and communicate with others and the way you live and describe your mission.

Commitment as the dedication to the well-being of others and to the shared task.

If loving one another was the most important message Lt. Col. Ricciardi could give his troops in the face of life-threatening and debilitating circumstances, then how equally important love is for leaders in an era where people are looking for love expressed as genuine, authentic caring.

My conclusions about what makes good leadership are not drawn from my doctoral studies but from my life experience university: Leaders must make love happen with intimacy, passion and commitment!

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OK, this may be a little blunt, but when I watch some people live their lives they seem to be confused between sleepwalking and dream stepping! When one of our sons was very young (I won’t give away his identity), we would catch him sleepwalking. Yes, he was moving and God only knows what he was dreaming, but he was asleep. Do you have an entrepreneurial dream that is important to you? Don’t sleepwalk but instead dream step.

After more than 45 years of being an entrepreneur, I have observed several behaviors that are characteristic to entrepreneurial success, whether mine or other outstanding entrepreneurs. I have experienced and observed that you must be engaged in your dream DAILY. Always, and I mean always, take step one… Talk it up. Hear yourself say bold action words about the abundance or rewards your dream will produce for everyone involved. If it doesn’t impact others it is not much of a dream! If you talk about how challenging or how difficult it is, that is talking down not talking up. Talk it up and move from lack to abundance in your talking it up.

Have you noticed that successful entrepreneurs seem to never quit talking about their passions? The subject has to come up, no matter where they are or who they are with or even if anyone believes them. We could name the rich and famous like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Imagine them not talking about batteries, electric cars, solar savings, moving millions of packages sold to online shoppers, or even personal delivery by drones. Oh yes, and the far-reaching idea of commercial space travel and space living. So the first self-test to achieving your dream is simply to assess if you are talking about it as if it were ready to manifest at any moment. Find somebody to talk it up with. Learn to talk it up. Stand in front of a mirror if necessary and talk to yourself. But never quit talking enthusiastically about the dream and the rewards it will bring for all involved. If you have a dream that offers abundance and rewards, talk it up.

If you are an entrepreneur with a dream, whether a little dream or a big dream, the second thing you must do is take daily steps of intention. Move toward your dream. Nothing happens until you start! I like the quote Barry Borthistle shared with me: “If you make an appointment, anything can happen. If you don’t make an appointment, for sure nothing will happen!” Making an appointment is taking a step of intention. Forward action steps, even if they are fail forward steps, are the most important things you can do each day to move you toward your entrepreneurial dream. Some are action steps, planning steps, analytical steps or even reflective steps. Watch out for the distractions that rob you of your forward progress as life is full of them, including mobile devices and big screens!

The second self-test is to examine the amount of time you set each day for forward steps which will be proportionate to the scope of your dream and the passion you have in fulfilling it. Michael Jordan didn’t become the greatest basketball player of all time without daily making the same shots over and over in an empty coliseum with no cheering fans!

It may be that the most important thing you can do is take the first step like Barry said and make an appointment. Something will happen; either you will fail and you can learn from the fail forward step that takes you one step closer, or you will succeed which is just one step closer to your success. Either way, it is a step toward your dream of abundance for anyone who engages with your dream. Stepping forward is the idea here!

Here is one of the best tips I have received in making appointments. People are busy these days and voice mail seems like a convenient way to allow calls to collect for a later call back. But I personally don’t want to leave a voice mail asking for an appointment. The tip is this: simply text the person and request a short phone call. “Hey Michael, I would like to talk with you a couple minutes. Do you have some time today?” If they know you, it is courtesy to give some time. If they have no time for you, they are probably not a good lead in the first place. If they have time for the call, ask for an appointment to share something very impactful in your life that they may benefit from. Be sure to mention that you will make it worth their time with a special gift.

The Share and Care Gift Card system just opened up your world to any appointment you would want to make stepping toward your dream!

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I am writing this on Saturday the day after Friday and yes, the day before Sunday of the Easter weekend. An interesting perspective of life intrigued me and I would like to share it with you. In reflecting on the historical events we now celebrate as Easter, I came to an aha moment: many times, out of the darkest times of our lives come the brightest times. This is not just true of our individual lives but sometimes society as a whole, such as the prosperity that followed World War II. Companies can experience this as well, such as Apple when it was faced with possible bankruptcy a number of years ago. We have all heard the expression “the darkest of night is just before the dawn.” Perhaps this is a principle of the creative and innovative process. For sure the principle of resurrection!

This Easter is being celebrated by hundreds of millions of people around the world. But as history reveals, what we now call Good Friday appeared as the darkest time in the history of Christianity. It was a day when the political leaders of the day determined the spiritual leader that many called the Messiah was to die by the way of the cross. Friday saw His death. His burial was determined to prevent his followers from stealing the body: a huge stone was placed in front of the tomb and soldiers were posted to secure it. It was a dark day with tears and hopelessness for many of His followers. That was Friday. But then came Sunday, the day of resurrection. The brightest and most glorious day filled with hope and joy. The day that nearly two billion people put their hope and faith in celebrating today. It was also this contrasting experience of darkness and radiant light that caused a small group of people to take their experiences, beliefs and passion to the ends of the earth.

My point is not to make this a religious message but to take one of the most celebrated and significant historical events of darkness and brightness to point to the fact that the greatest period of darkness in our lives can usher in the brightest times. Many times the darkest moments can produce the greatest recognition of belief, passion and purpose for our lives. It is like when a person faces death and then the fear of death no longer has any power over them. They are free to make decisions to live life at its fullest expression. I urge you to always remember, after Friday then comes Sunday!!

From a business standpoint, billionaire Elon Musk said: “Every innovative company being true to its mission should experience a near death experience one time.” Could that be the Friday and Sunday principle that forever changes its participants? It can be an experience that causes belief and passion to overcome all obstacles in order to fulfill the mission and vision! While it’s in our nature to seek protection and comfort, what I call “the womb effect,” it is the adversity in life that melds and molds our character to fulfill important purposes in our lives.

For us at TriVita, Sunday is upon us. The most glorious days of our lives are ahead of us. That which we could not have done in our own way has brought us to a certain belief and passion for our mission of wellness that will sustain and embolden us. The era of wellness—underpinned by devices such as the upcoming Apple watch and wellness wearables—is coming! Wellness is the greatest defense against illness. The world is setting up for the most glorious wellness revolution in history. Are you ready? I can tell you this: lives are being resurrected every day to engage in this opportunity!

We have seen the lack of success in illness care. Today the greatest challenge and opportunity lies in optimizing wellness. We are on the precipice of a whole new era. When wellness is connected to living a life with purpose, we have certainly seen and experienced Friday and then Sunday!! I believe that someday in the future when we look back on the history of TriVita, we shall easily recognize our birth, the soft launch day in July 1999, but we will also recognize our Friday and Sunday!

We are seeing everyday resurrections occurring!! This is the day of massive transformational purpose!

To fulfill the promise of my March blog, here are the seven thieves of wellness in a home:

Toxic and processed food

Toxic household products

Poor physical conditioning

Lack of values

Lack of love expressions

Low self-esteem

Scarcity beliefs with low income

There is so much to share with our world about wellness essentials and how to overcome the seven thieves of wellness. Today is Sunday!!

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In my last live stream event I introduced the book, BOLD, written by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler. It is one of the greatest sources and illustrations of exponential entrepreneurialism, where people-ideas-money come together to create MTP, massive transformational purpose!

I have evangelized the life purpose message for 45 years, pushing myself and hopefully inspiring others to break through the imposed limitations to pursue and fulfill their life of purpose. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth and most of you were not either. We were not born into royalty nor did we have the good fortune of inheriting wealth with purpose and a mentor to go along with it.

But in BOLD, Peter and Steven take purpose to a whole new level of possibilities: to not only fulfill a life of purpose but also to connect to massively transformational purpose. You don’t have to lead the community but you can participate in the community MTP! It is totally possible by how we are connected and with whom we are connected. It is a connected world!

As I read through the book, I came to realize we are on the edge of time when we have the technology to have massive transformational purpose in helping our world experience wellness. As an example, the accelerated speed of knowledge in this arena will soon manifest as self-diagnostic tools for disease conditions. Even at the TriVita Wellness Center we will soon be able to offer an examination with leading and lagging indicators of imbalance, simmering, emerging and gross disease conditions. To the degree one wants to pursue self-directed wellness, the tools and programs in telemedicine will soon make that possible. Significant breakthroughs in the field of immunology are leading to increased understanding of how to work with the body to fight disease. These are truly exciting times.

But even with these incredible technological breakthroughs that are occurring at an exponential rate, we must realize wellness is more than the absence of disease but is experienced through the practice of the 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness. While TriVita has adopted these essentials, they are not ours alone—they are truly universal principles of wellness. To punctuate the idea: wellness cannot be experienced where there is the absence of love, gratitude and forgiveness. We see that in many parts of our world today.

We have so much to share about wellness and I do believe wellness is for every home. As I read BOLD, I realized more than ever that wellness for every home is my massive transformational purpose. To lead this MTP is not even a consideration, but to participate in the community of leaders who believe in its possibility is where I will spend the rest of my life. This is the greatest time ever in the history of mankind to be an entrepreneur and I believe we are connected as never before to share our passion as wellness entrepreneurs.

Today, I want to proclaim what you can do to participate in this MTP! You have heard from me and others what you can’t do concerning product and compensation claims—now let’s hear what you can do! I want as many of you who will to blog about wellness or share in some way your wellness views in both social and digital media. You can share from the topics of each of the 10 Essentials of Wellness. Huge opportunity of subject matter. And next month I will give you the Seven Thieves of Wellness to add to your 10 Essential subjects, which will give you 17 topics on wellness.

We are extending the privilege for you to use these brand names in your wellness evangelism: Gift of Wellness, TriVita, TriVita.com, TriVita Wellness Center, Premier Member, Bioenergetics. Let’s be a part of massive transformational purpose and enjoy the reciprocal benefits that go along with every MTP!

Perhaps the greatest tool TriVita has ever developed is the new Wellness Gift Card program. As I said on the live stream, the Gift of Health we launched in 2002 just became a whole lot better with the Gift of Wellness digital card. And you can go digital with your card! It is coming soon: March 16, 2015!

I invite you to participate in the massive transformational purpose of wellness that is occurring in our world. The next 10 years will be mindboggling!

Also, if you haven’t read BOLD, may I give you the Nike proclamation: please, “Just Do It!”

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“If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you would not cry at the end when he drove off the lot testing the windshield wipers. Nobody cries at the end of the movie about a guy who wants a Volvo. But we actually spend years actually living these stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.” These are the words of Donald Miller in his book, “What I learned while editing my life.”

I laughed and have to admit I cried as I read this book illustrating how every life is a story. Each of our lives is like a blank page; what we do in our lives is the story we write upon this page. This concept moved the “life purpose” message I have shared for 15 years in TriVita to a whole new paradigm and made it so much more personal. There is no waiting for the “aha” moment for purpose to be revealed or discovered. No escaping finding purpose because of the daily responsibilities. No, each one of us is the character in our developing story. And what we have done so far in life has established the story to this point and how meaningful our lives have been. The exciting question each of us gets to answer is, what will be the rest of the story and will it be meaningful?

Susan and I are here in Hawaii celebrating her birthday. I am here recovering from a hernia surgery. No golf, no marlin fishing, no gym visits pushing my limit. So I decided to join with Donald Miller and discover what I could learn while editing my life. Most of us are way too busy to take a couple days to reflect but since I can’t really do the things I love to do here in Hawaii, it provided the opportune time. I would like to share what I learned. Not what I learned about my life, but what I learned about “the Story” of our lives. Maybe it will tweak your interest and someday you will take a couple days and reflect on your own story. If you have gone to a good movie or have read a great book you will find the story points I am sharing with you very familiar. And actually they can help you write the rest of your story.

A good story has to have a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. The character does not just advance in the story, they must be forced. The inciting incident is the doorway they were forced to go through to have the courage to deal with the conflicting issues of life and overcome them. Humans naturally seek comfort and stability but that is boring and won’t make life meaningful; neither will it cause you to cry or laugh at your story. Great stories are “written” by those who do not give in to fear. A great story must advance the character toward what they want, even if very slowly. The story must have the suspense of risk and a question of will they make it?

Watching a movie or reading a book with such suspense and with the question will they succeed is enjoyable and memorable; living the story is much more agonizing, unless of course you as the character in your story are surrendered to the Writer!

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Happy New Year!! I have anticipated making that announcement for over three months. As Mike Riedmiller wrote to me, “Happy New Year and I am glad it is here.”

I like the opening statement of Amy Cosper, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur magazine: “If December is a month for congratulations, toasts and presents, January is a little more real, reflective, and guided by resolution. January represents the future. It is where the next steps become concrete. Like it or not, we are charged with being a part of what the future is or what the future is not going to be. It’s the time for what I call entrepreneurial optimism.”

I believe what happens in our future is based on aligning our purpose, thoughts and actions to create the future we desire to be a part of. Amy also wrote, “Not everyone embraces the promise of the future because, dammit, it’s different from the present.” And, I would like to add, different from the past.

I believe 2015-2020 is going to be one of the greatest five-year time periods in history for entrepreneurs who can envision a future to better mankind. The tools to connect people and ideas are greater than ever before. This is wealth power at the highest level. It is not about finding a rare commodity or product to bring to market but about ideas to inspire people to contribute to the betterment of mankind. Look at Uber and Rover: Uber innovated a better mode of transportation and Rover connects pet owners with local pet sitters. Always remember, wealth is attracted to people and ideas! Reciprocity always rewards! We have the ability to connect people to new ideas about living with greater wellness and attracting wealth in our lives. I have never been more intrigued by the possibilities than I am today.

When we started TriVita 15 years ago, we looked at the possibilities of media connecting our wellness ideas to many people. Today that media potential has exploded to interactive and responsive media platforms that are far more personal and engaging. So much so that everyone has the opportunity to engage with media. It did not exist just 15 years ago.

The future does not look like the past. The world’s knowledge is accelerating at 100% every year. Mindboggling. Consumers have choices as never before but they also have personal values that go far beyond product quality and pricing. At one time it was all about the product, then they demanded better service. Today it is about the whole value experience! That is why we launched the Premier Membership program on January 2nd. This will become significant in the member experience and in growing a wellness community of seekers and servers!

You are an entrepreneur, ITBO (Independent TriVita Business Owner). We live in a world of accelerating change. So entrepreneurialism is not about finding a niche and digging in. It is about being relevant. Entrepreneurs are not sprinters, they are marathon runners. We learn as we grow, we commit to the hardships when necessary, we create milestones for small victories and successes, we believe in ourselves, and we believe in the purpose for which we live by providing products, services and experiences that make the world a better place.

If you are an entrepreneur, 2015 to 2020 offers the most inviting time in history to make a difference in your world and the world of others. I invite you to believe in the possibilities and join with me as wellness entrepreneurs in 2015.

Michael

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Last night we had a wonderful response to the new ITBO business opportunity initiatives we announced via Live Stream. If you didn’t get a chance to see it, you may find it at http://www.new.livestream.com/trivitainc.

We are extremely pleased that Dr. Conard will be joining TriVita as our Chief Medical Officer and President of the TriVita Wellness Center. The wellness-focused medical center will carry most major health insurers as we expand our physician services. The vision is to demonstrate the model and roll out centers in areas with a concentrated customer base. This will not only be for TriVita Members but will also serve the greater public. First in the USA and then in Canada and Australia. This announcement was received with great enthusiasm. Dr. Conard will be doing a Personal Wellness Plan for all our ITBOs around the world as we go forward in 2015!

I am also very pleased to announce our new Premier Membership program, available in the USA, Canada and Australia. This opt-in program is the next level of service for our Members—with no added costs or obligations, just added benefits. This adds significant value to the Member experience and gives our ITBOs a tremendous follow-up opportunity to share the benefits and referral rewards. We have many ideas for adding value to the Premier Membership over the course of the year.

I am looking forward to 2015 with the greatest anticipation since we launched TriVita in 1999. I want to offer my sincerest gratitude to each of you who have had the foresight and belief in TriVita’s destiny as a wellness company. We have incredible opportunity as we add value to our reciprocal exchange from God’s world of abundance. I know some may prefer to hear that in the form of the compensation plan—that too was greatly enhanced!

This is an awesome time for the entrepreneur as it is an age where the young people desire to be entrepreneurs and the 50 plus crowd need to be entrepreneurs to support their lifestyle for the rest of their lives. Aren’t we fortunate to be alive in these times when wellness, wealth and purpose are so much in demand!

May each of you have a wonderful and merry Christmas and may you have abundant joy and cheer for each of the special holidays you celebrate with family and friends! And may the new year of 2015 be filled with the anticipation of wellness and prosperity!